CINEMATIC REVELATIONS allows me the luxury of writing, editing and archiving my film and television reviews. Some reviews appeared initially in "The Commercial Dispatch" and "The Planet Weekly" and then later in the comment archives at the Internet Movie Database. IMDB.COM, however, imposes a limit on both the number of words and the number of times that an author may revise their comments. I hope that anybody who peruses these expanded reviews will find them useful.

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Thursday, September 12, 2013

You’ve got to like Vin Diesel to enjoy his movies. Diesel plays the same character
or a variation on it in all his movies. He has a narrow range of
roles. Generally, he makes crime thrillers. He skewered his image with “The
Pacifier” back in 2005. Diesel dominates
his films, but his co-stars occasionally make an impression. Indeed, the
gravel-voiced Diesel stands out in any crowd. A brawny hulk of a fellow,
Diesel maintains a Frank Frazetta physique, sports a Telly Savalas haircut, and
pierces you with his gimlet eyes. Diesel lacks neither nerve nor
authority. Apparently, he splits his time between the “Fast & Famous”
franchise and the “Riddick” franchise.Word
is that Diesel has negotiated to appear in a second “xXx” sequel entitled “xXx:
The Return of Xander Cage.”The “Riddick”
franchise has not been as financially rewarding for Universal Pictures as the “Fast
& Furious” series, but the actor has a soft spot for Riddick.

In the first Riddick epic “Pitch
Black,” our anti-heroic, convict with man-made night vision fought carnivorous,
pelican-like dinosaur birds with huge raptor teeth. Obsessed by its
insatiable lust for blood, these flying piranha teeth fowl descended onto
Riddick and company like waves of Stuka-bats. “Pitch Black” concerned
survival under the worst conditions against a deadly supernatural predator.
The stranger in a strange land applied almost equally to this creepy sci-fi
fantasy because the crash victims were tourists on a planet teeming with
“Jurassic Park” predators. Basically, “Pitch Black” (2000) resembled an
old-fashioned Tarzan movie whose setting had been altered to outer space.
Instead of a private plane crashing in a jungle filled with deadly tribes and
predators, a commercial cargo vessel plunges to a planet ruled by deadly
carnivores. In a Tarzan movie, the heroes would battle their way to
safety after encounters with lions, baboons, elephants, and crocodiles.
Director David Twohy’s original generated considerable suspense with shocks and
surprises to compensate for its standard-issue plot. You knew Vin would
triumph. This same problem plagued the ambitious “Chronicles of Riddick” (2004) that put our protagonist into a completely
different plot. He tangled with human rather than bestial adversaries.
“Chronicles” appeared five years after “Pitch Black.” Comparatively,
“Chronicle” shunned the exotic wildlife and survival-of-the-fittest
themes. Instead, it introduced a race of amoral space marauders named the
‘Necromongers.’ The second Riddick movie looked like “Flash Gordon” meets
“Dune” space opera. As the second sequel in the “Pitch Black” franchise,
director David Twohy’s “Riddick” (***1/2 OUT OF ****) shuns the spectacle of
“Chronicles” and reverts to survival of the fittest, with exotic, celestial
predators. The “Riddick” predators surpass the “Pitch Black” beasties,
and Riddick performs several impressive feats. Furthermore, “Riddick”
ties its two previous movies together in its plot.Karl Urban appears in a cameo early in the
action as Vaako.

If you haven’t seen “The Chronicles
of Riddick,” you may find yourself at a considerable disadvantage.
“Riddick” opens on a hostile planet where our protagonist has been left to
perish. Richard P. Riddick (Vin Diesel of “xXx”) is in pretty bad
shape. The opening scene with a repulsive space vulture that Riddick
traps in his fist epitomizes his dire predicament. The double-crossing Necromongers
have abandoned Riddick on the wrong planet and triggered an avalanche where he
breaks his leg. Jamming his foot in a crack in the rocks, he straightens
out of his injured appendage. “Riddick” shows how Riddick is as
resourceful as Sylvester Stallone’s “Rambo” protagonist. The funniest incident
occurs when Riddick fakes off a snarling alien jackal. Designated “Dingo
Doggies” by other characters, these beasts are huge, Great Dane hounds with
black stripes crossing their dark orange fur. Eventually, Riddick finds a
puppy and trains it. Our rugged hero discovers that he is on a part of
the planet that he cannot leave without sloshing through a small mud
pond. Remember the fairy tale about the troll who lived under a
bridge? Lurking in this harmless puddle is a poisonous “Mud Demon”
creature. These predators
perambulate on two legs, possess a long, scorpion-like tail with snapping
pincers, and prefer to wallow in mud. Riddick studies a Mud Demon” and observes
how it submerges part of its body.This
fiend distracts you with its cobra-like, scorpion tail while the rest of its
body—concealed by the mud—moves in for the kill with a head shaped like the
“Alien” monster to seize its prey. Once Riddick has contrived his
strategy, he slays the creature and finds his way to an outpost established by
space mercenaries for emergencies. Space mercenaries are typically bounty
hunters. Riddick activates a signal beacon like the little girl warrior
did in “Hanna.” Promptly, two teams of bounty hunters respond. The
reward on Riddick’s head is doubled if the bounty hunters kill him.
Santana (Jordi Mollà of “Blow”) and his well-armed but unsavory crew arrive
first, while Johns (Matt Nable of “Killer Elite”) and his team follow. Johns promises Santana that he will let him
operate with a free hand. Indeed,
Johns is related to the Johns that had captured Riddick in “Pitch Black.”

"Pitch Black" rarely gave
us crystal clear views of its predators. “Riddick” provides us with a
front-row seat to appreciate the Mud Demons in all their menace. “The
Chronicles of Riddick” contained only one scene with caged animals. Our
hero is back in his element in “Riddick,” and he has his hands filled
throughout the film’s veritable two hour running time. Mind you,
“Riddick” never wears out its welcome. Specifically, Riddick unfolds in
three acts. Initially, Riddick adapts and recuperates on the planet after
the evil Necromongers have abandoned him. He studies his number one
enemy, and this predator returns in greater numbers later when a massive storm
provides it with conditions ideal to its migration. Riddick amounts to a
space Rambo. He moves on phantom feet, and you rarely know where he is
since he is so clandestine. Riddick and Santana are at each other’s
throats throughout “Riddick,” and Santana qualifies as a thoroughly obnoxious
villain. He murders a defenseless woman after he releases her and later
cites his growing attachment to her as his justification. Santana vows to
collect Riddick’s head in a box. The pay-off to this intense rivalry
resembles something from a 1980s’ Arnold Schwarzenegger actioneer. For
sheer diversity, Johns’ team features a battle-hardened lesbian, Dahl (Katee
Sackhoff who played ‘Starbuck’ in “Battlestar Galactica”), with an affinity for
firearms. David Twohy, who has helmed all three Riddick epics, slips in
surprises galore. Altogether, “Riddick” tops “Pitch Black,” but it is neither
as spectacular nor as multi-layered as “Chronicles.” If “Riddick” marks
your first exposure to the “Pitch Black” franchise, you are probably going to be
lost when references to the previous installments occur. Meanwhile,
Riddick fans will appreciate Twohy’s efforts to impose continuity onto the
trilogy. Here’s hoping we won’t have to wait another decade for another
“Riddick” sequel.